Meaning & Origins

(Spanish) pet form (originally a nursery form) of Dolores, now established as an independent given name in the English-speaking world. It owes some of its popularity to the fame of Lola Montez (1818–1861), the stage name adopted by Marie Gilbert, an Irish dancer and courtesan who had affairs with Liszt, Dumas, and others. From 1846–8 she so captivated the elderly Ludwig I of Bavaria that she became the virtual ruler of the country, precipitating riots, a constitutional crisis, and the abdication of the king. She arrived in New York in 1851, and spent the last years of her life working to help prostitutes.

Southern Italian: from canònico ‘canon’, ‘church official’, probably denoting the servant or even the offspring of such a person, since canonic officials of the Greek Catholic Church were allowed to marry.